The last time we went to Pikes Peak (late 1990s) Hubby, son and I rode the cog train. The weather at the base was perfect. Halfway up the mountain in moved the clouds making it so foggy at the summit, we could barely see our way from the train stop to the gift shop. I did not move around outside because I was afraid of falling off the mountain. REALLY. It was that foggy.
Hubby was stationed at Colorado Springs in 1990 before his deployment to Desert Storm. He saw the mountain many days, but never went to the top. So he was equally disappointed on the cog train trip.
One of the events for the GeoWoodstock14er geocaching gathering was scheduled on the summit of Pikes Peak. We planned to go and in fact, made arrangements with two other geocachers (one from TX and one from Germany) to ride along. The weather forecast was not good for that Friday. In fact the road was closed at the 11,000' elevation station because of snow and fog. Many geocachers did make the drive and later that afternoon, the road was opened and those who wanted were able to drive to the top. We decided not to go when we heard rain/snow was forecasted. The point of making the road trip is to actually SEE from the summit.
Fast forward a few days. The weather system finally moved out of the area. Tuesday looked like a good day to drive Pikes Peak and it was.
"Take the 19 mile two-lane highway to the clouds to explore Colorado's most famous peak."
there are 3 lakes along the highway
Sasquatch carving
our destination on the left
several groups of bicyclists were on their way down
as we were driving up
a view of what we left behind
because it is not a national park
there are physical geocaches along the way
and at the summit
this one was important because it was placed by a MN
geocacher whom we have met
tundra wildflowers growing just above the surface
maybe 2 inches high at the most
just one of many hairpin curves
total of 18 mile markers
we were there on July 5th
delicate wildflowers
a marmot at the summit
we crossed paths on the way to a geocache
Woo Hoo! I found it amongst the boulders
another view from the summit
the clouds moved in and snow crystals fell
the view when the 'system' moved in
Hubby made some purchases
he visited with a woman in the gift shop who had
hiked 12 miles up the peak (they start at 7,000')
she also had a broken arm...before the hike
the t-shirts we bought
we did not do a lot at the top as we both
were huffing and puffing, even after
spending a week at 5,000+ feet
Hubby searching for a cache on the way down
interesting formations
yellow wildflowers at a lower elevation
they are taller
another of the 3 lakes
we made it!
a popular stop, but no Santa that day
It was on this trip we were told not to run the AC on the way up or down because "your engine could overheat" like what happened to the minster in my last post. Another of the Rules of the Road: "Plan on at least a half tank of fuel. The trip to the summit and back is 38 miles and uses 80 miles of fuel." This was also the first time we had a brake check by a ranger. There was a mandatory check for all vehicles at the 11,000' station. We were good to go, well, the truck was good to go, and the driver for using that low gear as recommended in the Rules of the Road.
The brochure also says: "The drive is not recommended for infants under the age of 6 months or anyone with a history of cardiac or respiratory problems. The thinner air at the summit makes it difficult to breathe."
We can check this one off the Bucket List!
To top an already quite awesome day and successful geocaching day (I think we found 8) we decided to drive to Lake George to find the oldest Colorado geocache, about 30 miles away as the crow flies. I'll save that for another blog post!
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